Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News Former Calvary Day and UGA football player Demarcus Dobbs, now with the San Francisco 49ers, talks with Stephanie Britt on the sideline during Friday night's Benedictine game at T.A. Wright Stadium.

Benedictine football coach Danny Britt established a goal early on this season for his team to host a Class AA playoff game at Savannah State’s T.A. Wright Stadium.

After a dominating 41-0 victory over visiting Jeff Davis in a Region 2-AA game at the same venue Friday night, the Cadets are one win shy of achieving their goal.

Benedictine (7-2, 6-2 in Region 2-AA play) goes on the road to face McIntosh County Academy next Friday. A win would secure a No. 2 seed, allowing the Cadets to host their first playoff game. A loss could mean a complicated three-way playoff at a neutral site on a Monday between the Cadets, Bacon County and Toombs, Britt said.

The Cadets celebrated their senior night in style, scoring on their first possession and never looking back.

Stevie Powers, the Cadets southpaw quarterback, hooked up with fellow sophomore Brad Stewart for the Cadets’ first touchdown. Powers threw a high ball down the left sideline, and Stewart easily out leaped the defensive back to make the catch, resulting in a 27-yard touchdown.

Powers grew up playing for St. Peter’s, going against Stewart, who attended St. James. They are both glad to be on the same side now.

Later in the second quarter, Powers rolled to his right and made a difficult throw across his body — firing a strike that Stewart corralled for another 27-yard touchdown.

“Stevie’s got an amazing arm,” said Stewart, who has 13 touchdowns on the year. “He is extremely accurate, and he puts it on the money every time. He has done a great job since (injured quarterback) Miles McGinty got hurt.”

Powers enjoys throwing to Stewart, who provides an ample target at 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds.

“He’s got such a big body, he can go up and get the ball against anybody,” said Powers, who was 8 of 10 for 134 yards with the two touchdowns. “We’ve got great chemistry. The second touchdown wasn’t a designed route. But when I scrambled out to my right, I knew Brad would break to the corner and I was able to hit him.”

The Cadets also got it done on the ground. Sophomore Chance Jackson showed off his shifty running style, avoiding the first rush of defenders on nearly every run. He finished with 95 yards on 14 carries, including scoring runs of 16 and 11 yards.

Junior John Gaines made a big play on his first carry of the night, finding a seam up the middle and bursting to the left sideline. He got a key block from Stewart, before scoring a 55-yard touchdown. Gaines rushed for 107 yards on just three carries.

“Our passing game is working well,” Britt said. “I feel like if we went to it earlier last week against Toombs County, we could have come back and won. But we are going to keep working on it.

“Chance (Jackson) is an excellent athlete, and John Gaines can do the job as well, so I was happy with the running game.”

With 48 seconds left in the half, the Cadets started a drive on their 35-yard line. Powers completed passes to Stewart, Joseph Holguin and Mike Huggins to move BC down to the Jeff Davis 19-yard line. Then Powers hit Gaines inside the 5-yard line, but Gaines was ruled down at the half-yard line with three seconds left. Powers scored on a quarterback sneak on the next play.

The Benedictine defense was stout all night, allowing 76 yards of total offense and just 54 rushing yards. Linebacker Andrew McNulty easily eclipsed the 100-tackle mark on the year, after entering the game with 99.

“Our defense has been great. We’ve got guys like Connor Beytagh, Nick Koncul and Nolan McNamara up on the line doing a good job,” McNulty said. “And Joseph Ireland, Conor Forbes and I are also having good seasons as senior leaders.

“Next week is going to be like a playoff game,” McNulty said. “It’s been our goal to host a playoff game and with a win we can do it. It would be great for our team, our school and the program.”